A Series of Misfortunate Pokéfails
by Soos the Moos
Summary: The misadventures of a Unovian trainer on his journey to become a pokémon master.
1. Lost in the Wrong Darkness

Lost in the Wrong Darkness

Crap.

I was officially doomed. After ten hours of wandering around this maze-like cave, I discovered I was out of usable Pokémon, healing items and Escape Ropes. Hm. Buying those Ultra Balls over those Revival Herbs probably wasn't a good idea. I guess it didn't help that I mainly used fire types in this rock type haven.

Anyway, back to being doomed. I could see all right, but my flashlight's battery was going to run out of batteries soon. When that went out, I was really in trouble, well, more so anyway. Peeking around a corner, I saw a faint light. Hoping that luck was finally on my side, I ran to the source. My heart was crushed when I realized it was only the remains of a once-blazing fire. I guess Cherén still had all the luck.

I slumped down, defeated. Without any help, I would never make it out of this accursed cave alive. Wait a minute, help! That was my answer! I brought my X-Transceiver up to my face and pressed the backlight button. Nothing. Flicking on my barely lit flashlight, I shined it on the screen and squinted to make it out. Emptiness. Well, _now _I was doomed.

As I sat against the wall, I began to hear something in the difference. At first it sounded like my little sister laughing. As I listened, I it started to sound like screams. I listened harder. Yes, it was definitely screams. Scrambling to my feet, I tried to make out where the pained sounds came from. With all the echoing, it was very difficult to tell. Finally, I decided it was to my right. Jogging in that direction, the noise got louder. Breaking into a run, I determined it was a Pokémon. I could also hear the laughter of other Pokémon as well now!

I skidded into a turn and spotted the source of the noise: Two pokémon, a Gigalith and a Klang, were terrorizing a Pokémon I had only seen pictures of: a Charmander. The only reason I recognized it was because, my dad had been on a business trip to Kanto when I was four, and had brought me back a picture book about the regional Pokémon. Nostalgia aside, the two bullies had backed the victim into a corner, their backs turned away from me. I was about to reach for my Pokémon, but I remembered that the only one that hadn't fainted (knocked out more like) was definitely not battle worthy. Slowly and quietly, I set down my pack and tiptoed over behind the two attackers.

Thinking back on this, this was probably the most stupid thing I've ever done. Lifting up a rock, I slammed it over one of the Klang's gears. The noise echoed all throughout the cave, but I doubt anyone who heard would have thought it anything more than a battle. The Klang, unfazed, whirled around and seemed to glare at me. For a moment, the only sound was the Klang's gears clinking together, then it flung one of its gears at me (which I didn't know it could do), and knocked me off my feet, gasping for air.

The hostile Pokémon both turned their full attention towards me and started strolling toward me, as if they were walking through the park. I stood up shakily and lifted up my pack. Suddenly, the Gigalith started charging at me, a move I quickly recognized as Giga Impact. I tried to side-step it, even going so far as to swing my pack at it as it approached, but it merely altered its course and hit me head on. I heard something crack as he collided, and heard even more cracking when I reached the wall.

As I struggled to get up, the Gigalith stomped on the ground, earthquake obviously, which knocked me back to the ground. I lay, out of breath, on the floor as I watched the two pocket monsters approach me. I thought grimly about how they looked as if they had found easy prey, and were moving in for the kill.

Looking around desperately for something, _anything_, to give me a better advantage. Amazingly enough, luck was on my side for once. Not two feet from where I lay stood a pokéball. Wasting no time, I reached over and grabbed the orb, lifting it over my face. As I observed it in the dim light, lit only by the fire on the Charmander's tail, I realized it was a master ball, the rarest pokéball in existence, able to catch any Pokémon instantly.

Not pressing my luck, I threw the ball, hoping the Pokémon that would come out would be powerful enough. The familiar click and flash somewhat startled the Klang and Gigalith, but they recovered quickly. I was more focused on the Pokémon that had come out, largely disappointed. There, standing in between me and the hostiles was a mere Lillipup. Extremely disappointed, and with a growing sense of doom, I hauled myself to my feet, preparing to call the weaker Pokémon back inside its ball where it would be safer. After I got on my feet, I wondered why the two attackers hadn't tried to knock me down. After I looked up, I saw why.

The Gigalith was too busy being knocked back by an immensely powerful shadow ball attack, and the Klang was too busy standing in shock at the unexpected attack. I looked back at the Lillipup, I saw it standing confidently- and was it smirking? It certainly had enough power to taunt them.

The Klang snapped out of his state of shock and rushed toward the tiny Pokémon, intent on killing. The Lillipup stood its ground, then bit the steel type with a dark aura around its jaws. The Klang shrieked; a sound I have never heard and never want to hear again. The Lilipup flung the Klang against a corner farther away, causing itself to be too preoccupied to avoid the oncoming Giga Impact. As It skidded back, its form started wavering until it revealed a Zoroark. Well, that made a lot more sense than a Lillipup beating up two rather powerful Pokémon.

Realizing I could do nothing else to help in my condition, I slumped against the wall and hoped the Zoroark would continue annihilating the hostile Pokémon. I watched the battle intently, and managed to figure out that while it had power, it somewhat lacked skill. I guessed that its past owner had enough money to buy stat increasing substances such as Iron or Calcium and used Technical Machines to teach moves. I doubted any of these were learned by skill, judging by its style.

After a while, I noticed the Klang hadn't shown up after the Zoroark flung it. Glancing over, I saw the Charmander had taken initiative and used its type advantage to fight back the Klang- and winning as well. This one seemed to have a bit more experience in this, for though he was slower and his attacks were less effective, he appeared to be winning.

Eventually, the two former bullies grew tired of the fight and ran off into the darkness of the cave. I hoisted myself to my feet and stumbled over to the two Pokémon who ended up rescuing me.

"Thanks for saving my life," I said somewhat pained. The broken ribs and whatnot didn't exactly feel good after all. "Where did you come from? Why are you stranded here?"

The Zoroark regarded me for a second, then responded mentally. _My captor was rich, but was sent to complete his so-called _Pokédex . _He uses only Master Balls, so he calls them, to capture anything and everything. He enhanced my power, but grew tired of me quickly, so he dropped my pokéball instead of release me, or so I imagine._ He then barked a few noises to the Charmander, who responded with a short speech.

_He claims to be traded from a different world than this, one vastly different, the Pokémon there all so alien to these. However, his trainer had no interest in "weak" Pokémon, and when he wouldn't evolve out of fear of the unknown, the trainer left him at the entrance of this cave and ordered him to leave him. He has been wandering this darkness ever since._

And I thought I had been lost for a long time. "Well, let's see if we can find a way out of this place. I know I'm tired of it." As I said this, I lifted my pack and turned to walk in a random direction, hoping I could get lucky again.

_Wait! _The Zoroark's voice stopped me before I had taken a single step. _You're too injured to travel! _

"I'm fine," I responded. A lie, of course. "I've been worse off." A bigger lie. Nevertheless, I started walking away, then stopped to clutch my cracked ribs, which had suddenly started exploding in pain.

_You certainly seem in perfect shape to me, _the Zoroark sarcastically said, er, thought.

"My Pokémon with healing pulse fainted, okay? I'm stuck here until we find a way out," I gritted my teeth to try and mask some of the pain. Continuing to limp in the same direction, I felt the Zoroark slide underneath my arm and help support me. The Charmander climbed up my other side and grabbed my pack, holding it as he walked next to me with its short stubby legs.

After about thirty minutes of wandering around, we saw a light in the distance. Not daylight, we knew, but firelight. Quickening our pace, we approached the source sooner than we thought we would.

In the range of light sat on old man who appeared serious, but happy. "Hello, who might you be?"

"Erm, I'm Nate, and these are…" I realized I didn't yet know the names of my companions. Apparently, the Zoroark decided to inform the man directly, because he swiveled his attention to my impromptu crutch.

"Ah, lost," the man smiled, as though it was a game. "Yes that can happen when searching for legendary pokémon. It's all the risk that makes it all the more exciting!"

"Actually, I'm just trying to go to Minstralton City," I responded.

The man laughed in his wheezy voice. "But surely you know that this cave doesn't lead to there! This cave goes to the legendary Cobalion!"

"What? Why is it called Minstralton Cave then?"

"To confuse people!"

"AAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!"

**A/N**

Sorry to interrupt all your quality fics with this crummy one, but my friend asked me to write this and I had nothing better to do! I don't know, I might do a few more, but only if I see some interest in it. And yeah, fire types FTW!


	2. An Abusive Gym

_This is it._

I took a deep breath as I entered the Minstralton City Gym. My heart pounded ferociously, as if it wanted to escape my chest. I always got overexcited like this before entering gyms. If I had asthma, I would still be back in Striaton.

_Stay focused and calm. You can do this._

I took a few steps forward before looking around and marvelling at the massive structure. I saw several cannons scattered around the place on many different floors. Barriers prevented you from straying from a preset path, determined by Skyla, the Gym Leader. I met her before at Celestial tower while training for this very event. I can't remember exactly what happened, but it involved a Pokémon that needed help. She seemed pretty determined in her task, but still took the time to be polite and welcome me to the city. Now I'll see how she acts with a Pokéball.

I steeled my nerves as I walked the only direction I could: forward. With walls and barricades on either side of me, I ventured towards a cannon in the middle of the room. She doesn't expect me to fire myself from this, does she? After looking around for a minute and seeing nothing else to go by, I slowly clambered into the steel tube, testing my claustrephobia. After a second of freakout, it seemed to recognize my weight, and it raised up and turned around. When it stopped, it gave me a second to wonder what I was supposed to do now. Then it launched me out at about forty miles an hour.

Suffice to say, I had a minor heart attack, and died a little inside.

As I was flying through the air, wind whistling past my ears, I found another fear to tack onto my rapidly growing list: _acrophobia._ I never thought my vocal chords had the ability to make that sound before today, and I never want to hear it again. The icing on the cake: the landing platform was solid steel. I swear all of my body was coved in bruises from that encounter, even what didn't touch the ground.

After I picked myself up a few minutes later, I looked around to find the path. What did I see? More cannons.

**Pokémon**

I finally reached the gym battle platform, albiet in a less than perfect shape. I felt like a Conkledurr decided to use me as a replacement for one of his concrete blocks. I probably looked worse. Glancing down at my arm, I saw purple and blue splotches scattered all over it. I didn't want to check the sensetivity.

"Nate!" Skyla called from a few meters over. She seemed both amused and worried. I realized that she had seen that entire pathetic experience, and felt my face grow warm. "I'm glad you could make it up here, but are you all right? You seem... in pain."

_Aren't you the clever one._

"I'm fine," I responded, trying to keep my voice pain-free. "Been through worse." For the first time in my life, I honestly meant it.

"Okay...," she responded, still a little wary. "Are you ready to battle?"

"Don't get me wrong," I started, "you're nice, but there's no other reason I'd go through **that** and leave without a battle."

She still seemed a bit skeptical, but she took her Pokéballs off of the stand next to her and clipped them into her belt. Taking a few steps forward into position, she took the remaining ball in her hand and tossed it out onto the mat. I heard the familiar click and the pokéball flashed, revealing an excited Swoobat. It flew around hurriedly, as if trying to find a foe to battle.

I took a deep breath, ignored the pain, an reached onto my own belt and grabbed what I knew to be Minipete's ball. A series of memories hurtled through my mind as I touched it. I remembered getting the promise to be given an emolga if I gave him a boldore. After rushing to the nearest PC and grabbing the Boldore, I made a mad dash back to the hiker. He stayed true to his name and handed me the pokémon that could be the key to getting the Jet Badge that Cherén had showed off just before setting off to Icirrus for the next badge. I wanted to catch up to him so badly that I had started training with Minipete immediately.

Putting memories aside, I pulled the ball out of the small metal frame and hurled it near the center of the mat, just as I had with every other Gym Battle. The ball clicked and flashed before the little electric flying pokémon jumped out.

I glanced at Skyla and saw that she seemed to be waiting on me to make my move. Frowning slightly at this, I yelled a command at Minipete. "Double team, now!"

I'm response, the little pokémon shook back and forth, seeming to split into different emolgas.

Skyla must've recognized the strategy, because she spoke up just after I finished.

"Avi, heart stamp!"

The swoobat "Avi" shot forward, paused to smile, and rammed into Minipete. My little pokémon fell to the ground, but picked itself back up and continued to use double team. Rapidly splitting up, the emolga now seemed to be sprawled out everywhere, on and off of the mat. Skyla had been shouting out commands to her pokémon the whole time, but poor Avi had been making him(her?)self dizzy trying to find the real enemy.

"Acrobatics, now!" I yelled, confident of my success. Minipete and all of his clones rose up in the air, swarming around like a bunch of beedrils when you try to take their hunny. Somewhere in the mass of yellow, black, and white, a swoobat flew, trying to attack all of the enemies. The real Minipete followed my strategy well. From what I could hear and see, my pokémon dealt a quick blow, then retreated for a minute before diving back into the process. Skyla seemed at a loss as to what she should tell Avi to do. I grinned, now certain of my badge.

Apparently, Arceus had a different idea. As I backed up a bit to get a better view of the action happening all around me, Minipete swooped a bit too far in his retreat. He crashed into my face, breaking his concentration and spoiling the illusion. While he was too small to do damage to me, he was plent fast enough to know me off balance. I staggered backwards and managed to fall upside down into the cannon intended to take the challenger to the exit. It took me to the exit all right, but one victory too soon. I flew through the air screaming, though this time in frustration instead of fear. Minipete jumped off, causing me to turn in midair. Fortunately, the staff at the entrance saved my face from plastic surgery, but they could do nothing to break my fall at that speed. I slammed into the floor on my butt with extra force from that last-minute turn. Skidding right out the door, I probably looked like something right out of a cartoon. Coming to a halt near the plane sitting on the runway, I flopped down, in pain from my already tender bruises.

"Nate!" I heard Bianca from a distance. I realized with a sense of panic that my old battle challenged friend would throw a pity party for me (metaphorically speaking) if she saw me like this. I forced myself to a sitting postion and slapped on my cap to avoid sympathy.

"I've been looking for you!" Bianca said as she got close. I glanced at her green and white clothes so she didn't think I was ignoring her. "I wanted to tell you that I got my Jet Badge this morning! I just followed your advice, and it wasn't even that hard! Thanks for all of your help. You're the best. I'll see you at Icirrus!"

_..._

_Why do you hate me, Arceus?_

**A/N**

**So I decided to make fun of poor Nate again, as well as change the name of the fic _again_. Not much attention (40 hits and one review), but I was bored. Hope you enjoy this chapter, Draconis Kitten Sweetie!**_  
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	3. Summer Vacation Special

**A Series of Misfortunate Pokéfails**_  
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**Chapter III: Summer Vacation Special**

_Ah, a well deserved vacation at last._

Nate took his cap off and lay down across the back seat of his parents' minivan, closing his eyes in relaxation. The setting sun shined directly in his face, but he couldn't care less. After months of travelling, training, and making sacrifices one after another, he finally had a chance to sit back, relax, and enjoy himself-in Kanto at that. Sure, he still had to get that last badge and worry about whatever the heck Team Plastic or whatever was up to, but he needed a vacation. Besides, it's not like the end of the world was tomorrow. He had time to train later. One week wouldn't hurt.

A bump in the road jolted Nate back to reality. He slowly sat back up, temporarily blinded by the sun. Glancing out of the window, he saw a passing sign that read "Mt. Moon: 2 mi."

"We're almost to the Clefairies, kids!" Nate's dad called from behind the wheel. Just below six feet, his dad was really a family guy. Always hanging out with Nate and his six-year-old sister, Emma, he had a sort of twinkle in his eye that always gave away when he lied or was playing a trick on someone.

"Whoo-hoo!" Emma immediately responded. The four-foot blond bundle of energy threw her hands up in the air excitedly, her pigtails flopping up and down. Ever since she knew what the vacation was, she had been easily overjoyed like this. She also suddenly has always wanted to see the Clefairy doing their annual evolving thing with the moonstone. Nate thought her enthusiasm might have been the reason his mom stayed back at the hotel...

Snapping out of his reminiscing once again, Nate noticed that the car had pulled over. Looking around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing worth pulling over for anyway.

"Hey, Dad!" He called to the front. "What's up? Why did we stop?"

"I thought I heard something on the side of the car," he replied, not bothering to turn his eyes away from the road. "Mind checking it out for me, bud?"

_I love these rhetorical questions. I always get a choice._

"Sure," Nate said, pretending not to mind. He was kind of annoyed that his dad wouldn't even look at him when he sent his son to go do _his_ job. Nevertheless, Nate hopped out of the van and stepped onto the grass.

There really wasn't anything impressive around there. Just grass alongside of the road. Around fifteen feet to the side of the road, though, was a forest. Rather dense compared to Pinwheel Forest, Nate thought. A few hundred feet down the road was a trail, probably for trainers who wanted to nab a Clefairy.

Nate reached over and shut the door, wanting to get this over with. But almost as soon as he closed it, the car revved into action. Instinctively taking a step back, Nate tripped over a root that had conveniently grown where he intended to step. Plopping down on the ground, he watched as the car drove back onto the road.

"See you at the cave!"He heard his dad say. "Have fun training; you'll thank me later!"

Nate panicked as he realized why he wouldn't look at him. He would've given himself away with his eyes. He had been planning this the whole time! Scrambling up to his feet, Nate started running after him. Knowing it would be useless, he yelled after him, "Stop! Wait! No, come back!"

He only went faster, leaving the poor trainer in the dust, panting. By the time he reached the trail he had given up chasing the car. Sitting down on the ground, Nate caught his breath in the middle of a bunch of yellow flowers that he barely noticed. Then it dawned on him: he was truly screwed. Not only was his X-Transceiver out of range (much to his Mom's disappointment), but he had left all of his Pokémon in his bag. Which was in the car that he could barely see now.

Best vacation ever.

**Pokémon**

Far dirtier than he was three hours ago, Nate still wandered around the forest. He regretted taking the path now. He wished he had just followed the road. At least then someone could've helped him when a random Absol chased him away from any sense of direction he previously had.

Nate glanced around at his dark surroundings. Checking his useless X-Transceiver, he saw it was almost five-till nine. Unless he found his way quickly, there was no way he'd see the Clefairy evolve. Such a shame, seeing as the prospect of a foreign evolution did to appeal to him.

Sitting down on a nearby protruding root, Nate started observing the area. One would think that a place called Mt. Moon would be simple enough to find, but the land all seemed relatively flat to him. Just unclimbable trees, insignificant rocks, and fruitless bushes. And if he didn't know any better (which he didn't), he'd say that he'd been here before.

_I wish I had marked the trees or something. Oh well. Would, should, and could: the three plagues of mankind. That and getting lost in forests apparently. Or maybe that's just me..._

Nate's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of running paws off to his left. If it hadn't been so dark he might've seen what it was, but as it was there was only a grayish blur. Panicking, the eleven-year-old scrambled up the nearest tree to avoid a possible confrontation with another wild pokémon. He managed to climb up eight feet before an Absol came darting into the clearing. The Absol, shooting through the forest like only a pokémon can, stumbled over the root that Nate had risen from not fifteen seconds before.

If it had had gone slower, the Absol could have recovered, but at the sped he went at he slammed right into the dirt. Skidding a few feet, the Absol lay sprawled out like a tangrowth sometimes does in the rain, though not for long. Scrambling up to its feet, the Absol tried to get up and run off again. Nate wondered why the beast was acting like that. It was unlike any behavior he recognized in either human or pokémon. Then, just after it clicked, a huge Zoroark bounded into his view. While the Zoroark Nate had seen was about his height, this one could easily stand taller than his Dad, who was somewhere around six feet.

The Zoroark took one long stride towards the victim Absol, and grabbed the scruff of its neck. Hoisting it up effortlessly to eye level, the Zoroark glared at it for a second, as if threatening it mentally. A fear greater than any Nate had seen spread over the Absol's features.

Then he fell off of his perch on the tree. Landing on the ground with a thud, Nate grunted in pain briefly. The Zoroark's ears instantly perked up, detecting the quiet noises. It threw the whimpering Absol down to the side, skidding into a tree. Whirling around to face him, the Zoroark made a guttural growl obviously directed at the trembling youth backing away. Closing the distance between them in another bound, the Zoroark snatched Nate up by his neck.

As the impressive beast attacked Nate's consciousness with his mind, he mentally screamed at the trainer, "Foolish human! You have meddled in the wrong affairs!"

Nate writhed in anguish as his artificial migraine escalated in pain rapidly due to both the psychological attacks and the physical strangling. Panicking, he tried to suck in air and wriggle free of the pokémon's death grip, with the only outcome being his oxygen depleting even more rapidly.

Then, in the greatest stroke of luck, a flashlight shone in his face and he heard a shouting voice. Almost any other time, it would have been annoying (bar his cave experience), but now it was like Arceus himself had come in and told him he and his family were immortal.

A pokéball sounded several times, followed by the roar of several pokemon, ranging from Kangaskhan to Golbat. The Zoroark hissed in the direction of the light and sounds and he ceased his mental barrage against Nate and loosened his death grip. Thankful for the reprieve, Nate gasped for air, sucking in the cool oxygen.

"Drop the trainer!" the voice said, sounding somewhat like a woman's, although with his ears still ringing from the attack, Nate had a difficult time with the details. One thing he did not have a difficult time with, however, was hearing the enraged growl emanating from the throat next to his head. Obviously, this Zoroark had some anger issues. Taking the stranger's actions as a challenge, and rightfully so, he escalated his growl into something between a scowl and a roar. The stranger stood her ground, her pokémon staying nearly silent as they awaited some sort of command.

Quicker than Nate could process it, the Zoroark flung him at the line of Pokémon and charged to the leftmost Pokémon, a dragonite. A kangaskhan speedily leapt forward, caught Nate, and rolled back to nullify the momentum. As the kangaskhan acted, the dragonite did a bit of action themselves, grabbing the Mankey next to it and hurling it at the oncoming offender. Though taken aback by this approach, The Zoroark kept his cool, ducking under the Mankey's fists. As he rose up, he grabbed the tail of the living projectile, and returned it to sender.

The dragonite imitated the kangaskhan and rolled back upon collision and decreased any damage given. Working like clockwork, the other three pokémon, a Golbat, Bulbasaur, and Geodude charged at the Zoroark from three different angles, the Bulbasaur going straight, and the Golbat and Geodude charging from the left and right, respectively. Upon seeing the oncoming threat, the Zoroark grabbed a wing of the Golbat, jumped forward onto the Bulbasaur's back, and threw the Golbat at the Geodude.

The Geodude powered through the Golbat and rammed his fist into the larger Pokémon's face, letting loose a small victory grunt. Staggering back, the Zoroark quickly recovered, but it was too late. The kangaskhan had leapt at the Zoroark as soon as he released Nate, and was literally on top of the Zoroark as soon as he recovered from the rocky fist. The dragonite and mankey followed suit, followed by the last three doing some sort of belly flop onto the lillipup pile. The stranger, now visibly a ranger, as marked by her red attire, stuck a needle into the little bit of struggling Zoroark that was exposed.

Nate nervously glanced around, turned to the side with his leg slightly forward, too worried about blocking the dark patch that was growing on the front of his pants to realize how excellent the Zoroark fought.

"Now then," the ranger said, standing up, "good job, guys. Oh, Derek, I'll need you to carry our troublemaker here. The Dragonite stood up and nodded, dusting himself off. The others did the same, rising to their feet and brushing off any dirt that had gotten on them. When they finished, Derek the Dragonite slung the body of the Zoroark over his shoulder. The others stood in a line, waiting to be sucked back into their Pokéball.

After zapping the Pokémon back into their little quarters, the ranger turned and saw Nate. "Where are my manners? My name's Luna."

"Nate," the embarrassed trainer responded.

"So, whatcha doing in the woods at this time of night?" Luna asked him. If she noticed his awkward stance she didn't say anything, which Nate was grateful for.

"I ...er... kind of got lost," Nate said. He squinted into the bright flashlight shining in his face. He could hardly even see his rescuer behind the light.

"'s what I thought. Ah well. Let's get you to a ranger station. You can use the phone there. PC too if you've got some Pokémon tucked up somewhere that you want." The ranger shined the light away from his face and started walking away, Nate following at an uneven pace due to his damp situation.

**Pokémon**

An awkward silence hung over the minivan, causing every little sound to appear deafening. Nate, arms crossed, stared out the window, refusing to respond to any form of communication. Even his little sister couldn't get a sound out of him. In the front, Nate's dad nervously ventured another attempt at conversation.

"Are you guys hungry? Maybe we can stop at Burgermeister's on the way back."

"Mh-hm," Emma answered before turning as far as her chair allowed to watch Nate's reaction. The only acknowledgement Nate made to the question was an indifferent glare.

The object of the glare glanced nervously at the rear view mirror. He wasn't stupid, he knew that Nate had every reason to be upset at him. He remembered Nate's absence at the spectacle that was their designated meeting point. They had waited for an hour and a half before Nate had returned with a single pokéball, grabbed his bag, and went into the bathroom to change into clean clothes. When he emerged, he sat down in the car and hadn't budged or said a word, despite a novel's worth of words directed at him.

Reverting his attention back to the road, Nate's dad sighed. "A penny for your thoughts?"

"..."

Nate's Dad sighed. This was going to be a long vacation.

**A/N**

**To be honest, I don't like this chapter myself, especially not the dreary closure. I prefer a joke at the end to at least help overshadow the less favored parts in the middle, or at least a good ending. Maybe I'm selling myself short, you be the judge. **

**I do want to make a shoutout to _LoveandZelink_, or more specifically their Zelda fic _Teardrops on my Heart_. I know it's a Zelda fic, not Pokémon, but hey, you can't say I'm not open-minded.**

**Thanks to anyone who gets this far, and a greater thanks to those who review. Theo G, signing off.**


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